About Mid-America Garden

Mid-America Garden came into being in 1981 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was a product of Paul's love for plants and wanting to find a hardy perennial for a particular place in his yard. That hardy perennial turned out to be irises. He first became acquainted with irises on one of numerous trips to see his Grandmother Black. His quest for irises like she had, led him to a rhizome sale of the local iris society and to becoming a member of that society. This event eventually led to the formation of Mid-America Garden and triggered major changes in his life.

In 1993, a major catastrophe occurred. Continuous rains through a hot Oklahoma summer promoted a devastating and unstoppable epidemic of soft rot. The next several years were not kind to Mid-America Garden. In 1994, Thomas Johnson from Alberta, Canada decided to move to Oklahoma and become a part of Mid-America Garden. After a couple more years of major problems and loss of commercial and hybridizing stock, Thomas and Paul decided to move the business to Oregon and to what is considered Iris Mecca – and it is.

The move to Oregon in 1998 was extremely stressful but it has been well worth it. Our business is thriving and growing. Our hybrid work is progressing in a way that it was never able to in Oklahoma and that is reflected in the recognition and awards that work is receiving.

Paul retired from the business at the end of 2011 and no longer is involved in the day to day operations. He has continued to hybridize here and Mid-America Garden continues to introduce for him.

Many years of hard work has gone into making Mid-America Garden a delight for visitors and we are still making changes and adding more new plants. Please come and share the beauty that surrounds us. Until you can do that, here are a few pictures to enable you to go on a “virtual” trip to Mid-America Garden and Husky Land.